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One of the things I have dreaded about being a parent is when my kid starts having 'playdates' with his little friends. I can be incredibly shy, so I prefer to avoid social situations, but I'm also very aware that if Rowan's to grow up with the confidence I lack I'm going to have to be more sociable.
So far he's had two 'playdates'; the first was just before Christmas, when he went to his best friend Isaac. I was supposed to be taking advantage of this to finalise my christmas shopping, but that was the evening I discovered my online orders had knocked me overdrawn. So I ended up calling to collect him much earlier than I'd planned, and as Mam was collecting us so we could go to Tesco I couldn't hang around at the house for long myself. *sigh*
The second was last night, when we both went to his friend Lawrence's house. While I was perfectly happy to let him go off to Isaac's without me (I've known Isaac and his family for at least two years now), I'm not as familiar with Lawrence's family. Heck - I didn't even know which kid was Lawrence!
It went really well, I'm glad to say. Spent a couple of very pleasant hours talking to Lawrence's mum - who shares the same name as me! - while the boys played with play-dough. We even joined in with them, while enthusiastically discussing Doctor Who and Torchwood. Lawrence's mum has been to see John Barrowman in panto, and even got his autograph! *is jealous as all get out!* The show finishes on saturday, and there's no way I can afford to get tickets when I have rent arrears to pay off...*sigh*
Of course, the trouble is that now Rowan's even more demanding about going to his friends' houses! It was bad enough at the nursery, but now he's actually started visiting he's getting really obsessed about it. He was very depressed as we left school this evening, 'cause he couldn't go back to Lawrence's house again, and tried to get Lucy's mum to let him visit too!
In a way, I'm glad I've had a couple of years to say hi and bye to a lot of the parents of his friends from the nursery. Makes it easier for me to chat with them in the school yard, and this then gives me tenuous openings to interact with the parents of the friends he's made since starting school.
It's also really mad sometimes how small Cardiff can be. One of the boys in his class, Joseph, is the son of a girl I went to that school with; she introduced herself at Rowan's birthday party, and I recognised her name. Don't think we were all that close friends though. But then on sunday I discovered that Lewis, a little boy from Isaac's class whom I think is absolutely adorable, is being raised by a guy I went to high school with! Gawain and I used to hang out in the music room at breaktimes, in a circle of friends that - for reasons that are no longer clear to me - kinda got together due to Freddie Mercury's passing. The 'ringleader' of the group was Robert, with whom I went to that concert in Hyde Park in 2005, and Gawain was one of the other more lively group members. He and another friend, Ben, are apparently going into business together shortly, so he was telling me when he gave us a lift home from Megan's party.
Such a small world....
So far he's had two 'playdates'; the first was just before Christmas, when he went to his best friend Isaac. I was supposed to be taking advantage of this to finalise my christmas shopping, but that was the evening I discovered my online orders had knocked me overdrawn. So I ended up calling to collect him much earlier than I'd planned, and as Mam was collecting us so we could go to Tesco I couldn't hang around at the house for long myself. *sigh*
The second was last night, when we both went to his friend Lawrence's house. While I was perfectly happy to let him go off to Isaac's without me (I've known Isaac and his family for at least two years now), I'm not as familiar with Lawrence's family. Heck - I didn't even know which kid was Lawrence!
It went really well, I'm glad to say. Spent a couple of very pleasant hours talking to Lawrence's mum - who shares the same name as me! - while the boys played with play-dough. We even joined in with them, while enthusiastically discussing Doctor Who and Torchwood. Lawrence's mum has been to see John Barrowman in panto, and even got his autograph! *is jealous as all get out!* The show finishes on saturday, and there's no way I can afford to get tickets when I have rent arrears to pay off...*sigh*
Of course, the trouble is that now Rowan's even more demanding about going to his friends' houses! It was bad enough at the nursery, but now he's actually started visiting he's getting really obsessed about it. He was very depressed as we left school this evening, 'cause he couldn't go back to Lawrence's house again, and tried to get Lucy's mum to let him visit too!
In a way, I'm glad I've had a couple of years to say hi and bye to a lot of the parents of his friends from the nursery. Makes it easier for me to chat with them in the school yard, and this then gives me tenuous openings to interact with the parents of the friends he's made since starting school.
It's also really mad sometimes how small Cardiff can be. One of the boys in his class, Joseph, is the son of a girl I went to that school with; she introduced herself at Rowan's birthday party, and I recognised her name. Don't think we were all that close friends though. But then on sunday I discovered that Lewis, a little boy from Isaac's class whom I think is absolutely adorable, is being raised by a guy I went to high school with! Gawain and I used to hang out in the music room at breaktimes, in a circle of friends that - for reasons that are no longer clear to me - kinda got together due to Freddie Mercury's passing. The 'ringleader' of the group was Robert, with whom I went to that concert in Hyde Park in 2005, and Gawain was one of the other more lively group members. He and another friend, Ben, are apparently going into business together shortly, so he was telling me when he gave us a lift home from Megan's party.
Such a small world....
